Provenance

Bequeathed by the artist in 1816 to James White of Exeter (1744–1825), on whose death it passed to Towne’s residuary legatee John Herman Merivale (1779–1844) and his successors. Merivale’s granddaughters Maria Sophia Merivale (1853–1928) and Judith Ann Merivale (1860–1945), both of Oxford, inherited the drawing in May 1915 (BP65). In November 1935 Judith Merivale sold it to Paul Oppé (1878–1957; no.2114) for £15 with five other drawings (FT306, FT328, FT335, FT336, FT350), and his descendants sold it in 1996 with the rest of Oppé’s collection to the present owner, the Tate Gallery (T08558).

Comment

The drawing depicts much the same view as another drawing Towne made on the same day, FT359. A copy by John White Abbott (FT828) contains a top portion which has been lost from this drawing, but which is on the verso of no.40 in the series, now at Rhode Island School of Design (FT331). According to Bower,1 this drawing is watermarked with “part of an unidentifiable coat of arms”, which “may well be of Swiss origin”.